System and method for storage device management

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for managing storage devices includes a host interface, a plurality of storage device interfaces, and a processor. The host interface is configured to communicatively couple with a host device and the plurality of storage interfaces configured to communicatively couple with storage devices. The processor is communicatively coupled to the host interface and the plurality of storage device interfaces. Further, the processor is configured to receive requests from the host device via the host interface and communicate the requests to the storage devices via the plurality of storage device interfaces. The processor is additionally configured to receive responses from the storage devices via the plurality of storage interfaces and communicate the responses to the host device via the host interface, manage a global submission queue and a global completion queue, and manage a submission queue and a completion queue for each of the storage devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/683,604, filed on Jun. 11, 2018, which herein isincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Disclosure

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a storagedevice manager for managing communication between storage devices and ahost device.

Description of the Related Art

The non-volatile memory express (NVMe) interface allows a host device tocommunicate with a non-volatile memory subsystem. The NVMe interfacesupports parallel operation by providing 65535 input/output (I/O) queueswith up to 64K commands per I/O command. Various storage devices havebeen implemented to communicate via the NVMe interface; however, someimplementations of the storage devices are able to utilize only afraction of the maximum I/O queues supported by the NVMe interface.Typically, these are lower cost storage devices. For example, variouslow cost NVMe storage devices may only support 32 or 64 I/O queues. Ascompared to NVMe storage devices that support 128 or 256 I/O queues, thelow cost NVMe storage devices under-utilize the NVMe interface, and havea smaller input/output operations per second (IOPS) metric than that ofNVMe storage devices with larger I/O queues. However, to improve theIOPS metric of an NVMe storage device, the processing power and memorybuffer of the storage device needs to increased, increasing the cost ofthe storage device.

Thus, what is needed is a device that increases the processingcapabilities and buffer size of a storage device, without prohibitivelyincreasing the cost of the storage device.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally describes a method and apparatus formanaging storage devices includes a host interface, a plurality ofstorage device interfaces, and a processor. The host interface isconfigured to communicatively couple with a host device and theplurality of storage interfaces configured to communicatively couplewith storage devices. The processor is communicatively coupled to thehost interface and the plurality of storage device interfaces. Further,the processor is configured to receive requests from the host device viathe host interface and communicate the requests to the storage devicesvia the plurality of storage device interfaces. The processor isadditionally configured to receive responses from the storage devicesvia the plurality of storage interfaces and communicate the responses tothe host device via the host interface, manage a global submission queueand a global completion queue, and manage a submission queue and acompletion queue for each of the storage devices.

A method and apparatus for managing storage devices includes a hostinterface, a plurality of storage device interfaces, and a processor.The plurality of host interface is configured to communicatively couplewith a host device and the plurality of storage interfaces configured tocommunicatively couple with storage devices. The processor iscommunicatively coupled to the host interface and the plurality ofstorage device interfaces. Further, the processor is configured toreceive requests from the host device via the host interface andcommunicate the requests to the storage devices via the plurality ofstorage device interfaces. The processor is additionally configured toreceive responses from the storage devices via the plurality of storageinterfaces and communicate the responses to the host device via the hostinterface, manage a global submission queue and a global completionqueue, and manage a submission queue and a completion queue for each ofthe storage devices.

In one embodiment, a method for managing storage devices comprisesreceiving a request from a host device, updating a global submissionqueue in response to receiving the request, identifying a first storagedevice from a plurality of storage devices, and transmitting the requestto the first storage device. The method further comprises updating asubmission queue corresponding to the first storage device in responseto transmitting the request to the first storage device, and updating aglobal completion queue and a completion queue corresponding to thefirst storage device in response to completion of the request by thefirst storage device.

In another embodiment, a storage device comprises a housing and astorage management device disposed within the housing. The housinghaving a plurality of ports configured to receive storage devices.Further, the storage management comprises a memory and a processorcommunicatively coupled to the memory. The memory comprises a globalsubmission queue and a global completion queue. The processor isconfigured to receive requests from the host device and communicate therequests to the storage devices via the plurality of ports, receiveresponses from the storage devices via the plurality of ports andcommunicate the responses to the host device, update the globalsubmission queue and a submission queue corresponding to a first storagedevice of the storage devices in response to receiving the requests, andupdate the global completion queue and a completion queue correspondingto the first storage device in response to completion of the requests.

In another embodiment, an external storage device comprises a hostinterface, a plurality of storage device interfaces and a memory. Thehost interface is configured to communicatively couple with a hostdevice having a first read/write speed. The plurality of storage deviceinterfaces is configured to communicatively couple with storage deviceshaving a second read/write speed less than the first read/write speed.The memory comprises a host input/output queue, and the hostinput/output queue is larger than an input/output queue of each of thestorage devices.

In another embodiment, a data storage device comprises a means forreceiving requests from a host device, means for storing the requestswithin a memory, and means for identifying a first storage device and asecond storage device based on a first one of the requests and a secondone of the requests. The data storage device further comprises means forcommunicating the first one of the requests to the first storage deviceand the second one of the requests to the second storage device, meansfor receiving a response from the first storage device and a responsefrom the second storage device; and means for updating a globalsubmission queue corresponding to the host device based on the first andsecond requests, updating a submission queue corresponding to the firststorage device based on the first second request, and updating asubmission queue corresponding to the second storage device based on thesecond request. Moreover the data storage device comprises means forupdating a global completion queue corresponding to the host devicebased on the first and second responses, a completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device based on the first response,and a completion queue corresponding to the second storage device basedon the second response.

In another embodiment, a client device for storage device managementcomprises a load balancing module, a queue management module, a globalmapping table, and a command acknowledgement module. The load balancingmodule is configured to distribute input/output commands of a hostdevice to a plurality of removable storage devices. The queue managementmodule configured to update the global submission queue and globalcompletion queue, and update submission queues and completion queues ofthe plurality of removable storage devices. The global mapping tablecomprising an indexing of data stored within each of the plurality ofremovable storage devices, and an identifier for each of plurality ofremovable storage devices. The command acknowledgement module configuredto communicate an acknowledgement from each of the plurality ofremovable storage devices to the host device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentdisclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a storage management device according to one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a storage manager according to oneor more embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a storage management device according to one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a storage device according to one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method for managing storage devices according toone or more embodiments.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures.

It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may bebeneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following, reference is made to embodiments of the disclosure.However, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited tospecific described embodiments. Instead, any combination of thefollowing features and elements, whether related to differentembodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice thedisclosure. Furthermore, although embodiments of the disclosure mayachieve advantages over other possible solutions and/or over the priorart, whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a givenembodiment is not limiting of the disclosure. Thus, the followingaspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrativeand are not considered elements or limitations of the appended claimsexcept where explicitly recited in a claim(s). Likewise, reference to“the disclosure” shall not be construed as a generalization of anyinventive subject matter disclosed herein and shall not be considered tobe an element or limitation of the appended claims except whereexplicitly recited in a claim(s).

A method and apparatus for managing storage devices includes a hostinterface, a plurality of storage device interfaces, and a processor.The host interface is configured to communicatively couple with a hostdevice and the plurality of storage interfaces configured tocommunicatively couple with storage devices. The processor iscommunicatively coupled to the host interface and the plurality ofstorage device interfaces. Further, the processor is configured toreceive requests from the host device via the host interface andcommunicate the requests to the storage devices via the plurality ofstorage device interfaces. The processor is additionally configured toreceive responses from the storage devices via the plurality of storageinterfaces and communicate the responses to the host device via the hostinterface, manage a global submission queue and a global completionqueue, and manage a submission queue and a completion queue for each ofthe storage devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates a storage device management system 100 comprising astorage manager 110, host interface 120, and storage device interfaces130. Storage manager 110 includes processor 112 and memories 140 and150. As is illustrated, processor 112 is communicatively coupled withhost interface 120 and storage device interfaces 130. In one embodiment,processor 112 is communicatively coupled to storage device interfaces130 via communication bus 180 and to host interface 120 viacommunication bus 170. In one embodiment, storage manager 110 is asystem on chip (SOC). Further, the storage device management system 100may be referred to as an external storage device and/or a data storagedevice. In one embodiment, storage device management system 100 mayfunction as a client device.

Processor 112 may be any general-purpose central processing unit (CPU).For example, processor 112 may be an x86-based, ARM®-based processor orthe like. The processor my include one or more cores and associatedcircuitry (e.g., cache memories, memory management units, interruptcontrollers, etc.). Processor 112 may be configured to execute programcode that performs one or more operations described herein which may bestored as firmware within memory 150.

Host interface 120 is configured to couple an host device (e.g., hostdevice 260 of FIG. 2) with storage manager 110. The host device may beany external computing system. In one embodiment, host interface 120 isa non-volatile memory express (NVMe) communication protocol. In otherembodiments, host interface 120 supports an NVMe communication protocoland one or more other communication protocols. For example, the hostinterface 120 may be configured to communicate via a NVMe communicationprotocol with processor 112 and a second protocol with an host device.The second protocol may be one of a peripheral component interconnect(PCI), peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe), Thunderbolt™,Universal Serial Bus (USB), BlueTooth®, and wireless local area network(wlan). In other embodiments, other communication protocols may be used.In embodiments utilizing at least two communication protocols, hostinterface 120 is configured to receive data from the host device using afirst protocol (e.g., Thunderbolt™), convert the data to a secondprotocol (e.g., NVMe) and communicate the data to the processor 112.Further, the host interface 120 may be configured to receive data fromprocessor 112 via the second protocol, convert the data to the firstprotocol and communicate the data to the host device.

In one embodiment, the host device comprises read/write speed that isfaster than the read/write speed of each of the storage devices.

In one or more embodiments, the host interface 120 may include physicalport configured to receive a connector of a host device. In otherembodiments, the host interface 120 includes a wireless connection.

Storage device interfaces 130 may include a port that is configured toreceive a storage device (e.g., storage device 140 a of FIG. 2). Storagedevice interfaces 130 may support the ability to insert and remove acorresponding storage device. For example, storage device 140 a may beinserted into storage device interface 130 a and removed from storagedevice interface 130 a. Moreover, storage device interfaces 130 andstorage manager 110 may support hot-swappable capabilities (described ingreater detail in the following).

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, four storage device interfaces (e.g.,storage device interfaces 130 a-130 d) are illustrated; however, inother embodiments, more or less than four storage device interfaces maybe utilized. In one embodiment, the storage device management system 100includes at least two storage device interfaces. Further, the storagedevice interface 130 may include an odd or even number of storage deviceinterfaces.

Processor 112 is coupled to storage device interfaces 130 viacommunication bus 180. In one embodiment, processor 112 is coupled inparallel with each of storage device interfaces 130 via communicationbus 180, such that processor 112 is able to access each of the storagedevices coupled to the storage device interfaces independently.Processor 112 is further communicatively coupled with host interface viacommunication bus 170. Communication bus 170 and communication bus 180may be formed of one or more communication paths.

Memory 140 and/or memory 150 may be optional, and processor 112 iscommunicatively coupled with each of the memories. In one embodimentmemory 150 is a non-volatile memory (NVM) and memory 140 is comprised ofrandom access memory (RAM). In one embodiment, memory 140 includes atleast eight gigabytes of RAM. In other embodiments, other sizes of RAMmay be utilized. Memory 140 may be configured to store data receivedfrom a host device (e.g., host device 260) and a storage device (storagedevice 240). Further, memory 150 may be configured to store firmwarethat is executed by processor 112. For example, memory 150 may provideinstructions to be executed by processor 112.

FIG. 2 illustrates storage device management system 100 according to oneor more embodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the storage devicemanagement system 100 is coupled to host device 260 and storage devices240, and storage device management system 100 controls communicationbetween host device 260 and storage devices 240. For example, the hostdevice 260 does not communicate directly with each storage device 240,however, communication is controlled by processor 112. Thus, while thestorage device management system 100 is configured to control multiplestorage devices, to host device 260, the storage device managementsystem 100 appears as and functions a single end point, not asindividual memory cards. For example, processor 112 is configured toreceive requests (i.e., commands) from host device 260 via the hostinterface 120 and communicate the requests to the storage devices 240via the plurality of storage device interfaces 130. Further, processor112 is configured to receive responses (input commands) from the storagedevices 240 and communicate the responses (output commands) to the hostdevice 260.

The host device may be any computing device. For example, the hostdevice may be any one of a personal computing device, mobile phone,tablet computing device, and/or electronic computing device. In oneparticular embodiment, the host device 260 is a laptop comprising aThunderbolt™ port, and storage device management system 100 isconfigured to couple to the laptop via a wired connection andcommunicate with the laptop with over the wired connection using theThunderbolt™ communication protocol.

Storage devices 240 may be a memory card, such as a secure digital (SD),compact flash (CF), compact flash express (CFX), and the like. Further,storage device interfaces 130 may be configured to receive andcommunicate with the memory card using a similar protocol. Further, thestorage device interfaces 130 have a size and/or shape as storagedevices 240 and they are configured to receive the storage device.Further, the storage device interfaces 130 may support a NVMecommunication protocol. In various embodiments, the storage devices areremoveably coupled to a corresponding one of storage device interfaces130.

In various embodiments, storage device management system 100 (andstorage manager 110) behaves like a virtual host for storage devices 240by forwarding requests and acknowledging responses. The storage devicemanagement system 100 receives data from each storage device 240 andforwards them to the host device 260. Further, storage device managementsystem 100 (including storage devices 240) functions like a largestorage device to host device 240. For example, storage devicemanagement system 100 acknowledges responses, receives I/O adminrequests and generates interrupts for responses. In various embodiments,the storage device management system 100 performs dual roles, forexample, as a host device for storage devices 240, and as a storagedevice for host device 260. Further, the storage device managementsystem 100 preforms command and data management.

Various modules and management features 300 utilized by storage manager110 are illustrated in FIG. 3. Specifically, the embodiment of FIG. 3illustrates load balancing module 310, queue management module 320,global mapping table 330 and command acknowledgement module 340. Theload balancing module 310, queue management module 320 and commandacknowledgement module 340 may be part of a firmware layer stored withinmemory 150. In such an embodiment, each of the modules may includeinstructions that are accessed and executed by processor 112. In oneembodiment, load balancing module 310, queue management module 320,global mapping table 330 and command acknowledgement module 340 are partof a client device for storage device management.

In one embodiment, processor 112 maybe configured to generate globalmapping table 330. The global mapping table 330 may be any database orlook-up-table (LUT) stored within memory 150 and managed by processor112.

In one embodiment, the global mapping table 330 maps an identifier ofeach storage with the sectors assigned to each storage device. Forexample, a first storage device may be assigned to sectors 0 to 10,000and a second storage device may be assigned to sectors 10,001 to 20,000,which are reflected within the mapping table. The processor 112 may befurther configured to generate an identifier for each storage device240. The identifier may be used to identify a storage device when arequest is received from host device 260 and may be stored within amapping table located in memory 150.

In one or more embodiments, processor 112 receives a request from thehost device 260, identifies a storage device form the global mappingtable 330 based on the sectors included within the request, andcommunicates the request to the identified storage device.

In one embodiment, when a storage device is inserted within storagedevice management system 100, processor 112 assigns sectors and anidentifier to the storage device, and updates the global mapping table330. In one embodiment, when a new storage device is detected, sectorsassigned to one or more other storage devices may be reassigned to thenew storage device, and the global mapping table 330 is updated toreflect any changes. Further, to support hot-swappable capabilities,when a storage device is selected for removal from the storage devicemanagement system 100, processor 112 reassigns the sectors assigned tothe selected storage device to another storage device or devices andupdates the mapping table accordingly. In one embodiment, processor 112may also copy and/or move data stored from a storage device selected forremoval to another storage device.

Load balancing module 310 comprises one or more features that distributeinput/output commands across the storage devices coupled to the storagedevice management system 100. In one embodiment, load balancing module31 3200 is configured to balance the input/output commands such thateach of the storage devices is similarly utilized. For example, loadbalancing module 310 may be configured to receive requests provided byhost device 260, and order the requests such that storage devices 240are utilized in a parallel fashion. Further, the load balancing module310 is configured to ensure that one storage device is not utilized to agreater extent than the others.

In one embodiment, requests received from host device 260 may be storedwithin a queue in memory 140 which are then forwarded to each storagedevice. The load balancing module 310 may be configured to identifywhich of the storage devices are currently being accessed and/or havelarger queue and reorder the requests such that requests may betransmitted to less busy and/or storage devices with small queues.

Queue management module 320 may be configured to manage a globalsubmission queue and a global completion queue and a submission andcompletion queue for each coupled storage device 240. The globalsubmission queue and the global completion queue may be stored withinmemory 150 and accessed by processor 112. In one embodiment, queuemanagement module is configured change the global submission queue inresponse to receipt of a request from the host device and change theglobal completion queue in response to communicating a response to thehost device. Further, the queue management module 320 is configured tochange a submission queue corresponding to each of the storage devicesbased on responses communicated to the storage devices and change acompletion queue for each of the storage devices in response toresponses provided by the storage devices. In one embodiment, queuemanagement module 320 is configured to change a submission queue ofstorage device 240 a when a request is transmitted to the storage deviceand change a completion queue of storage device 240 a when a response istransmitted from the storage device. In one embodiment, a request isstored within the global submission queue and forwarded to thecorresponding storage device. The global completion and submission queuemay be referred to as a host input/output queue.

The global submission queue is larger than the submission queue of eachof the storage devices communicatively coupled to the storage managementsystem. In one embodiment, the global submission queue supports at least128 queues. In another embodiment, the global submission queue supportsat least 256 queues. Further, the submission queue of each of thestorage devices may not support more than 64 queues. In one embodiment,the submission queue of each of the storage devices does not supportsany more than 32 queues.

As with the global submission queue, the global completion queue is alsolarger than the completion queue of each of the storage devicescommunicatively coupled to the storage management system. In oneembodiment, the global completion queue supports at least 128 queues. Inanother embodiment, the global completion queue supports at least 256queues. Further, the completion queue of each of the storage devices maynot support more than 64 queues. In one embodiment, the completion queueof each of the storage devices does not support more than 32 queues.

The global submission and completion queues may be stored within memory140. Further, in one or more embodiments, submission and completionqueues for each of the memory devices may be stored within memory 140.In such embodiments, a mapping of the queues may be maintained withinmemory 140. In another embodiment, the submission and completion queuesfor each of the storage devices may be located within each correspondingstorage device. In one embodiment, when communicating with a hostdevice, storage manager 110 utilizes the global submission andcompletion queue. Further, when communicating with a storage device,storage manager 110 utilizes submission and completion queues thatcorrespond to the storage device. The host device manages a submissionand completion queue separate from the global submission and completionqueues of storage manager 110. Additionally, storage manager 110maintains a submission and completion queue for each storage device, andeach storage device also manages a corresponding a submission andcompletion queue located within the storage device.

In one embodiment, storage manager 110 maintains a global submission andcompletion queue, which is used to communicate with a submission andcompletion queue on the host device. Further, storage manager 110maintains a submission queue and completion queue for each of thestorage devices which is used to communicate with the global submissionand global completion queues of the storage manager. In one embodiment,the response from each storage device 240 is arranged corresponding tothe storage device into separate response queues, which are thenforwarded to the host device.

Command acknowledgement module 340 may be configured to perform commandacknowledgement to the host device 260 for each of storage devices 240.An acknowledgement may be sent to the host device 260 in response totransmitting a request to a storage device.

FIG. 4 illustrates storage device management system 400 and host device460, according to one or more embodiments. As illustrated, storagedevice management system 400 includes host interface 420 that isconfigured to communicatively couple with the interface 470 of hostdevice 460. Storage device management system 400 further includesstorage manager 110, and storage device interfaces 430. Storage manager110 includes processor 112 and memories 140 and 150. Further, storagemanager 110 is communicatively coupled to host interface 420 viacommunication bus 170, and to storage device interfaces 430 viacommunication buses 180 a and 180 b. In one embodiment, communicationbus 180 a and communication bus 180 b may be part of a singlecommunication bus (e.g., communication bus 180).

In one embodiment, host interface 420 is configured to communicate withinterface 470 using the first communication protocol and communicatewith storage manager 110 via a second interface different than the firstinterface. As the two communication protocols are different, hostinterface 420 is configured to bridge the communication protocols,converting requests received using the first protocol from host device460 to the second protocol which may be used to communicate with storagemanager 110. Further, host interface 420 is configured to convertresponses received using the second protocol to the first protocol whichmay be used to communicate with host device 460 via interface 470.

The embodiment of FIG. 4, host interface 420 includes communicationprotocols 422 and 424, where communication protocol 422 is the sameprotocol as that of interface 470. Further, host interface 420 isconfigured to receive data using protocol 422, convert the data toprotocol 424 and communicate that data to storage devices via storagedevice interfaces 430 and communication bus 180. In one embodiment, thefirst communication protocol 422 is a Thunderbolt™ communicationprotocol and the second communication protocol 424 a NVMe communicationprotocol. Further, host interface 420 may include a communication bridgethat converts input/output data between the first and secondcommunication protocols 422, 424.

FIG. 4 further illustrates storage management system 100 having eightstorage device interfaces 430 a-430 h. In other embodiments, more thaneight storage device interfaces may be utilized or less than eightstorage device interfaces may be utilized. Storage device interfaces 430are configured to communicatively couple with a storage device, such asa memory card. In one embodiment, each storage device interface 430comprises a port and is configured to receive a storage device. Further,each storage device interface 430 may be configured to communicativelycouple with a common type of storage device. In one or more embodiments,at least one of the storage device interfaces 430 may be configured tocommunicatively couple with a type of storage device different from atleast one other storage device interface. Further, one or more of thestorage device interfaces 430 may be configured to communicativelycouple with more than one type of storage device.

FIG. 5 illustrates a storage device 500 according to one or moreembodiments. The storage device 500 comprises housing 512, hostinterface 520, and storage device interfaces 530. In one embodiment,housing 512 is formed from a plastic material and has a rectangularshape. In other embodiments, housing 512 may be formed from othermaterials and have any shape. While not illustrated, storage devicemanagement system 100 further includes a storage management devicedisposed within housing 512 and configured to control communicationbetween host interface 520 and storage device interfaces 530. Thestorage management device may be similar to design and function asstorage manager 110. Host interface 520 may be port configured to coupleto a first end of a cord and a second end of the cord may be coupled toa host device (e.g., host device 260), communicatively coupling the hostdevice with the storage device management system 100.

Each of storage device interfaces 530 (530 a-530 b) includes a slotconfigured to receive a storage device. Further, while not illustrated,each of the storage device interfaces includes connectors configured toconnect to the connectors of a storage device. In one embodiment, thesize and shape of the storage device interfaces 530 may correspond tothe size and shape of the storage device that the interface isconfigured to receive.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method for managing storage devices according toone or more embodiments. At 610 of the method, a request is receivedfrom a host device. For example, storage manager 110 may receive a firstrequest from host device 260 via host interface 120. Storage manager 110may also receive a second request from host device 260. The firstrequest and the second request may be received in parallel or seriallyto each other.

In one embodiment, storage device management system 100 is configured toreceive a request utilizing a first communication protocol and convertthe communication protocol to a second communication protocol. Therequest may be received over one of a wired and wireless connection.

At 620, a global submission queue is updated. In one embodiment, theglobal submission queue stored with memory 140 is updated by processor112 in response to receiving the first and/or the second request fromthe host device. At 630, a storage device is identified from the storagedevices communicatively coupled to storage device management system 100.In one embodiment, processor 112 is configured to identify a firststorage device based on the first request received from host device 260and global mapping table 330. Further, the processor 112 may beconfigured to identify a second storage device based on the secondrequest received from host device 260 and global mapping table 330. Forexample, the processor 112, may determine which sector address isincluded with a request, compare the sector address to global mappingtable 330, and identify the storage device based on the comparison.

At 640, the request is transmitted to the identified storage device. Inone embodiment, processor 112 transmits the first request to the firststorage device using communication bus 180 and a corresponding one ofstorage device interfaces 130. Processor 112 may also transmit thesecond request to the second storage device using communication bus 180and a corresponding one of storage device interfaces 130. Further, at650 a submission queue of the identified storage device is updated. Forexample, processor 112 may be configured to update a submission queuecorresponding to the first and/or storage device in response to at leastone of communicating the response to the storage device and identifyingthe storage device. Further, each of the storage devices may also updatea submission queue located within the storage device in response toreceiving the request from the storage manager 110. In one embodiment,the submission queue corresponding to a storage device is updated afterthe storage device has been identified and before communicating therequest to the storage device. In other embodiments, the submissionqueue is updated after transmitting the request to the storage device.In one embodiment, the global mapping table 330 may be updated before orafter the submission queue is updated. Further, in one embodiment, theglobal mapping 330 is updated in response to transmitting the request toan identified storage device.

At 660 of the method, a global completion queue and a completion queueof the identified storage device is updated in response to completion ofthe request by the identified storage device. In one embodiment,processor 112 updates the global completion queue stored within memory140. Further, processor 112 may update the completion queuecorresponding to the first and/or second storage devices in response tocompletion of the request by the first and/or second storage devices.Further, each of the storage devices may also update a completion queuelocated within the storage device in response to providing the responseto the storage manager 110.

Completion of the request may correspond to the storage device providinga response to processor 112 via a storage device interface 130 for therequest. The response may then be transmitted by processor 112 to thehost device 260 via host interface 120. In one embodiment, thecompletion queue of the identified storage device is updated when theresponse is communicated from the storage device to the storage manager110, and the global completion queue is updated when the response iscommunicated from the storage manager 110 to the host device.

In various embodiments, storage device management system 100 isconfigured to communicatively couple multiple storage devices with ahost device, such that the multiple devices appear as a single storagedevice to the host device. Further, storage device management system 100is configured to maintain global submission and completion queues aswell as submission and completion queues for each of the storage devicesto balance commands provided to each of the different storage devices.Additionally, storage device management system 100 employs a largermemory buffer than that of the storage devices, and as such, the globalsubmission and completion queues are larger than the submission andcompletion queues of each of the devices. Thus, the speed benefits oflarger more expensive storage devices may be extended to lower coststorage device.

In one embodiment, a storage device management system includes storagedevices includes a host interface, a plurality of storage deviceinterfaces, and a processor. The plurality of host interface isconfigured to communicatively couple with a host device and theplurality of storage interfaces configured to communicatively couplewith storage devices. The processor is communicatively coupled to thehost interface and the plurality of storage device interfaces. Further,the processor is configured to receive requests from the host device viathe host interface and communicate the requests to the storage devicesvia the plurality of storage device interfaces. The processor isadditionally configured to receive responses from the storage devicesvia the plurality of storage interfaces and communicate the responses tothe host device via the host interface, manage a global submission queueand a global completion queue, and manage a submission queue and acompletion queue for each of the storage devices.

In one embodiment, the global submission queue is larger than each ofthe submission queues, and the global completion queue is larger thaneach of the completion queues. Further, the storage device managementsystem further includes a memory communicatively coupled with theprocessor and configured to store the requests received from the hostdevice. In another embodiment, the processor is further configured togenerate a global mapping table including an index for each of theplurality of storage devices.

In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to communicatewith a host device using the global submission queue and the globalcompletion queue, and communicate with a first one of the storagedevices using submission queue and complete queue that corresponds tothe first one of the storage devices. In another embodiment, a storageprotocol for the plurality of storage devices is a non-volatile memoryexpress (NVMe) storage protocol.

In one embodiment, managing the global submission queue and the globalcompletion queue comprises updating the global submission queue inresponse to receiving each of the requests, and updating the globalcompletion queue in response to completion of each of the requests bythe plurality of storage devices. Further, managing the submission queueand the completion queue of each of the storage devices, comprisesupdating the submission queues in response to receiving each of therequests, and updating the completion queues in response to completionof each of the requests by the plurality of storage devices.

In one embodiment, a method for managing storage devices comprisesreceiving a request from a host device, updating a global submissionqueue in response to receiving the request, identifying a first storagedevice from a plurality of storage devices, and transmitting the requestto the first storage device. The method further comprises updating asubmission queue corresponding to the first storage device in responseto transmitting the request to the first storage device, and updating aglobal completion queue and a completion queue corresponding to thefirst storage device in response to completion of the request by thefirst storage device.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises assigning a differentidentifier for each of the plurality of storage devices, and generatinga global mapping based on the host data stored with the plurality ofstorage devices and the identifiers. Further, in one or moreembodiments, the first storage device is identified based on the globalmapping. In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving asecond request from the host device, updating the global submissionqueue in response to receiving the second request, identifying a secondstorage device from the plurality of storage devices based on the globalmapping and the second request, transmitting the second request to thesecond storage device, updating a submission queue corresponding to thesecond storage device in response to transmitting the request to thesecond storage device, and updating the global completion queue and acompletion queue corresponding to the second storage device in responseto completion of the second request by the second storage device.

In another embodiment, a storage device comprises a housing and astorage management device disposed within the housing. The housinghaving a plurality of ports configured to receive storage devices.Further, the storage management comprises a memory and a processorcommunicatively coupled to the memory. The memory comprises a globalsubmission queue and a global completion queue. The processor isconfigured to receive requests from the host device and communicate therequests to the storage devices via the plurality of ports, receiveresponses from the storage devices via the plurality of ports andcommunicate the responses to the host device, update the globalsubmission queue and a submission queue corresponding to a first storagedevice of the storage devices in response to receiving the requests, andupdate the global completion queue and a completion queue correspondingto the first storage device in response to completion of the requests.

In one embodiment, the global submission queue is larger than thesubmission queue corresponding to the first storage device and theglobal completion queue is larger than the completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device.

In one embodiment, updating the submission queue corresponding to afirst storage device in response to receiving the requests, and updatingthe completion queue corresponding to the first storage device inresponse to completion of the requests comprises updating the submissionqueue corresponding to a first storage device in response to receiving afirst one of the requests, and updating the completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device in response to completion ofthe first one of the requests. Further, the processor is furtherconfigured to update a submission queue corresponding to a secondstorage device of the storage devices in response to a second one of therequests, and update a completion queue corresponding to the secondstorage devices in response to completion of the second one of therequests.

In one or more embodiments, the housing further includes a hostinterface, wherein the storage management device is further configuredto communicatively couple with the host device via the host interface.In one embodiment, the storage management device is configured tocommunicatively couple with the host device via a wireless connection.In another embodiment, the processor is further configured tocommunicate with a host device using the global submission queue and theglobal completion queue.

In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to assign adifferent identifier for each of the plurality of storage devices,generate a global mapping based on host data stored within the pluralityof storage devices and the identifiers, and identify the first storagedevice based on a first one of the requests. In one embodiment, theplurality of ports is configured to allow the storage devices to beremoved.

In another embodiment, an external storage device comprises a hostinterface, a plurality of storage device interfaces and a memory. Thehost interface is configured to communicatively couple with a hostdevice having a first read/write speed. The plurality of storage deviceinterfaces is configured to communicatively couple with storage deviceshaving a second read/write speed less than the first read/write speed.The memory comprises a host input/output queue, and the hostinput/output queue is larger than an input/output queue of each of thestorage devices.

In one embodiment, the host input/output queue comprises a globalsubmission queue and a global completion queue. In another embodiment,the eternal storage device further comprises a processor configured toreceive a first request from the host device via the host interface andcommunicate the first requests to a first storage device of the storagedevices via the plurality of storage device interfaces, and receive afirst response from the first memory storage device via the plurality ofstorage device interfaces and communicate the first responses to thehost device via the host interface. The processor is further configuredto update the global submission queue and a submission queuecorresponding to the first storage device in response to receiving thefirst request, and update the global completion queue and a completionqueue corresponding to the first storage device in response tocompletion of the first request.

In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to assign adifferent identifier for each of the plurality of storage devices,generate a global mapping based on the identifiers and host data storedwithin the storage devices, and identify the first storage device basedon the first request and the global mapping. In another embodiment, thehost input/output queues support at least 128 queues and theinput/output queue of each of the storage devices supports no more than32 queues.

In another embodiment, a data storage device comprises a means forreceiving requests from a host device, means for storing the requestswithin a memory, and means for identifying a first storage device and asecond storage device based on a first one of the requests and a secondone of the requests. The data storage device further comprises means forcommunicating the first one of the requests to the first storage deviceand the second one of the requests to the second storage device, meansfor receiving a response from the first storage device and a responsefrom the second storage device; and means for updating a globalsubmission queue corresponding to the host device based on the first andsecond requests, updating a submission queue corresponding to the firststorage device based on the first second request, and updating asubmission queue corresponding to the second storage device based on thesecond request. Moreover the data storage device comprises means forupdating a global completion queue corresponding to the host devicebased on the first and second responses, a completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device based on the first response,and a completion queue corresponding to the second storage device basedon the second response.

In one embodiment, the global submission queue is larger than thesubmission queue corresponding to the first storage device and thesubmission queue corresponding to the second storage device, and theglobal completion queue is larger than the completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device and the completion queuecorresponding to the second storage device. In another embodiment, thedata storage device further comprises means for generating a globalmapping of host data stored within first storage device and the secondstorage device, and wherein the first storage device and the secondstorage device are further identified based on the global mapping. Inone embodiment, the data storage device further comprises means forcommunicating the response from the first storage device and theresponse from the second storage device to the host device.

In another embodiment, a client device for storage device managementcomprises a load balancing module, a queue management module, a globalmapping table, and a command acknowledgement module. The load balancingmodule is configured to distribute input/output commands of a hostdevice to a plurality of removable storage devices. The queue managementmodule configured to update the global submission queue and globalcompletion queue, and update submission queues and completion queues ofthe plurality of removable storage devices. The global mapping tablecomprising an indexing of data stored within each of the plurality ofremovable storage devices, and an identifier for each of plurality ofremovable storage devices. The command acknowledgement module configuredto communicate an acknowledgement from each of the plurality ofremovable storage devices to the host device.

In one embodiment, the client device further comprises a datacommunication module configured to further comprising a datacommunication module configured to receive requests from the host deviceand responses from the plurality of removable storage devices, andtransmit the requests to the plurality of removable storage devices andtransmit the responses to the host device.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may bedevised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scopethereof is determined by the claims that follow.

1. A storage device management system, comprising: a host interfaceconfigured to communicatively couple with a host device; a plurality ofstorage device interfaces configured to communicatively couple withstorage devices; a processor communicatively coupled to the hostinterface and the plurality of storage device interfaces, wherein theprocessor is configured to: receive requests from the host device viathe host interface and communicate the requests to the storage devicesvia the plurality of storage device interfaces; receive responses fromthe storage devices via the plurality of storage device interfaces andcommunicate the responses to the host device via the host interface;manage a global submission queue and a global completion queue; andmanage a submission queue and a completion queue for each of the storagedevices.
 2. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the global submissionqueue is larger than each of the submission queues, and the globalcompletion queue is larger than each of the completion queues.
 3. Thestorage device of claim 1 further comprising a memory communicativelycoupled with the processor and configured to store the requests receivedfrom the host device.
 4. The storage device of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to generate a global mapping tableincluding an index for each of the plurality of storage devices.
 5. Thestorage device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configuredto: communicate with a host device using the global submission queue andthe global completion queue; and communicate with a first one of thestorage devices using submission queue and complete queue thatcorresponds to the first one of the storage devices.
 6. The storagedevice of claim 1, wherein a storage protocol for the plurality ofstorage devices is a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) storageprotocol.
 7. The storage device of claim 1, wherein managing the globalsubmission queue and the global completion queue comprises: updating theglobal submission queue in response to receiving each of the requests;and updating the global completion queue in response to completion ofeach of the requests by the plurality of storage devices; and whereinmanaging the submission queue and the completion queue of each of thestorage devices, comprises: updating the submission queues in responseto receiving each of the requests; and updating the completion queues inresponse to completion of each of the requests by the plurality ofstorage devices.
 8. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the storagedevice interfaces support hot-swappable capabilities.
 9. A method formanaging storage devices, the method comprising: receiving a requestfrom a host device; updating a global submission queue in response toreceiving the request; identifying a first storage device from aplurality of storage devices; transmitting the request to the firststorage device; updating a submission queue corresponding to the firststorage device in response to transmitting the request to the firststorage device; and updating a global completion queue and a completionqueue corresponding to the first storage device in response tocompletion of the request by the first storage device.
 10. The method ofclaim 9 further comprising: assigning a different identifier for each ofthe plurality of storage devices; and generating a global mapping basedon the host data stored with the plurality of storage devices and theidentifiers.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first storagedevice is identified based on the global mapping.
 12. The method ofclaim 10 further comprising: receiving a second request from the hostdevice; updating the global submission queue in response to receivingthe second request; identifying a second storage device from theplurality of storage devices based on the global mapping and the secondrequest; transmitting the second request to the second storage device;updating a submission queue corresponding to the second storage devicein response to transmitting the request to the second storage device;and updating the global completion queue and a completion queuecorresponding to the second storage device in response to completion ofthe second request by the second storage device.
 13. A storage device,comprising: a housing having a plurality of ports configured to receivestorage devices; and a storage management device disposed within thehousing and comprising: a memory comprising a global submission queueand a global completion queue; and a processor communicatively coupledto the memory, and configured to: receive requests from the host deviceand communicate the requests to the storage devices via the plurality ofports; receive responses from the storage devices via the plurality ofports and communicate the responses to the host device; update theglobal submission queue and a submission queue corresponding to a firststorage device of the storage devices in response to receiving therequests; update the global completion queue and a completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device in response to completion ofthe requests.
 14. The storage device of claim 13, wherein the globalsubmission queue is larger than the submission queue corresponding tothe first storage device and the global completion queue is larger thanthe completion queue corresponding to the first storage device.
 15. Thestorage device of claim 13, wherein updating the submission queuecorresponding to a first storage device in response to receiving therequests, and updating the completion queue corresponding to the firststorage device in response to completion of the requests comprises:updating the submission queue corresponding to a first storage device inresponse to receiving a first one of the requests, and updating thecompletion queue corresponding to the first storage device in responseto completion of the first one of the requests, and the processor isfurther configured to: update a submission queue corresponding to asecond storage device of the storage devices in response to a second oneof the requests; and update a completion queue corresponding to thesecond storage devices in response to completion of the second one ofthe requests.
 16. The storage device of claim 13, wherein the housingfurther includes a host interface, wherein the storage management deviceis further configured to communicatively couple with the host device viathe host interface.
 17. The storage device of claim 13, wherein thestorage management device is configured to communicatively couple withthe host device via a wireless connection.
 18. The storage device ofclaim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to: communicatewith a host device using the global submission queue and the globalcompletion queue.
 19. The storage device of claim 13, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: assign a different identifier foreach of the plurality of storage devices; generate a global mappingbased on host data stored within the plurality of storage devices andthe identifiers; and identify the first storage device based on a firstone of the requests.
 20. The storage device of claim 13, wherein theplurality of ports are configured to allow the storage devices to beremoved. 21-22. (canceled)
 23. An external storage device, comprising: ahost interface configured to communicatively couple with a host devicehaving a first read/write speed; a plurality of storage deviceinterfaces configured to communicatively couple with storage deviceshaving a second read/write speed less than the first read/write speed;and a memory comprising a host input/output queue, wherein the hostinput/output queue is larger than an input/output queue of each of thestorage devices, wherein the host input/output queue comprises a globalsubmission queue and a global completion queue, the storage devicefurther comprising a processor configured to: receive a first requestfrom the host device via the host interface and communicate the firstrequests to a first storage device of the storage devices via theplurality of storage device interfaces; receive a first response fromthe first memory storage device via the plurality of storage deviceinterfaces and communicate the first responses to the host device viathe host interface; update the global submission queue and a submissionqueue corresponding to the first storage device in response to receivingthe first request; and update the global completion queue and acompletion queue corresponding to the first storage device in responseto completion of the first request.
 24. The external storage device ofclaim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to: assign adifferent identifier for each of the plurality of storage devices;generate a global mapping based on the identifiers and host data storedwithin the storage devices; and identify the first storage device basedon the first request and the global mapping.
 25. The external storagedevice of claim 23, wherein the host input/output queues supports atleast 128 queues and the input/output queue of each of the storagedevices supports no more than 32 queues.
 26. A data storage device,comprising: means for receiving requests from a host device; means forstoring the requests within a memory; means for identifying a firststorage device and a second storage device based on a first one of therequests and a second one of the requests; means for communicating thefirst one of the requests to the first storage device and the second oneof the requests to the second storage device; means for receiving aresponse from the first storage device and a response from the secondstorage device; means for updating a global submission queuecorresponding to the host device based on the first and second requests,updating a submission queue corresponding to the first storage devicebased on the first second request, and updating a submission queuecorresponding to the second storage device based on the second request;and means for updating a global completion queue corresponding to thehost device based on the first and second responses, a completion queuecorresponding to the first storage device based on the first response,and a completion queue corresponding to the second storage device basedon the second response.
 27. The data storage device of claim 26, whereinthe global submission queue is larger than the submission queuecorresponding to the first storage device and the submission queuecorresponding to the second storage device; and the global completionqueue is larger than the completion queue corresponding to the firststorage device and the completion queue corresponding to the secondstorage device.
 28. The data storage device of claim 26 furthercomprising: means for generating a global mapping of host data storedwithin first storage device and the second storage device, and whereinthe first storage device and the second storage device are furtheridentified based on the global mapping.
 29. A client device for storagedevice management, the client device comprising: a load balancing moduleconfigured to distribute input/output commands of a host device to aplurality of removable storage devices; a queue management moduleconfigured to: update the global submission queue and global completionqueue; and update submission queues and completion queues of theplurality of removable storage devices; a global mapping tablecomprising an indexing of data stored within each of the plurality ofremovable storage devices, and an identifier for each of plurality ofremovable storage devices; and a command acknowledgement moduleconfigured to communicate an acknowledgement from each of the pluralityof removable storage devices to the host device.
 30. The client deviceof claim 29 further comprising a data communication module configuredto: receive requests from the host device and responses from theplurality of removable storage devices; and transmit the requests to theplurality of removable storage devices and transmit the responses to thehost device.